Kerry Lobbied for Contractor Who Made
Illegal Contributions
February 19, 2004
E-mail story
latimes.com
T
By Lisa Getter and Tony Perry, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry sent 28 letters
in behalf of a San Diego defense contractor who pleaded
guilty last week to illegally funneling campaign
contributions to the Massachusetts senator and four
other congressmen.
Members of Congress often write letters supporting
constituent businesses and favored projects. But as the
Democratic presidential front-runner, Kerry has
promoted himself as a candidate who has never been
beholden to campaign contributors and special interests.
Between 1996 and 1999, Kerry participated in a
letter-writing campaign to free up federal funds for a
guided missile system that defense contractor
Parthasarathi "Bob" Majumder was trying to build for
U.S. warplanes.
Majumder's firm, Science and Applied Technology Inc.,
was paid more than $150 million to design and develop
the program in the 1990s. But the program ran into some
stumbling blocks at the Pentagon.
Kerry's letters were sent to fellow members of Congress
- and to the Pentagon - while Majumder and his
employees were donating money to the senator, court
records show. During the three-year period, Kerry
received about $25,000 from Majumder and his
employees, according to Dwight L. Morris & Associates,
which tracks campaign donations.
Court documents say the contractor told his employees
they needed to make political contributions in order for
him to gain influence with members of Congress. He
then reimbursed them with proceeds from government
contracts.
Federal prosecutors initially determined that $13,000 of the donations were illegally
reimbursed, but they now say that nearly all of the money was tainted. They said
there was no evidence Kerry or other members of Congress would have known
that.
Asked what he did to repay the money, Kerry's campaign said Wednesday he had
donated $13,000 to charity on Feb. 9 - which was two days before Majumder's
guilty plea.
Kerry's campaign said the candidate's actions had nothing to do with the campaign
contributions. One of the subcontractors working on the guided missile project,
Millitech Inc., was based in Northampton, Mass.
Campaign senior advisor Michael Meehan said Kerry was concerned that the
military project was on hold and might jeopardize work for people in his home state.
"Kerry has made a career of going to bat for Massachusetts companies and
bottlenecks they might have with the federal government. It's part of his job,"
Meehan said.
"It was a small company. It wasn't a big military firm that had all kinds of influence
at the Pentagon."
Millitech specializes in the design, engineering and manufacture of components and
systems needed in satellite communications, radar and remote sensing. According
to a statement last year by the company, Millitech employs 80 people.
In the mid-1990s, Kerry visited the primary contractor in San Diego that Millitech
had teamed up with on the guided missile project. And some employees at Science
and Applied Technology attended a fundraiser for Kerry.
Kerry sent at least 21 letters to the secretary of the Navy, the secretary of
Defense, the Defense Department comptroller and to members of the House and
the Senate committees that control and finance military contracts.
Court files show Kerry had sent copies of some letters to seven other people.
All include Kerry's appeal that the project be funded, and each year, the letters
seemed to produce results. The federal money followed.
"It obviously raises questions about whether the campaign contributions bought
action from Kerry," said Steven Weiss, communications director of the Center for
Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group in Washington that tracks the effect
of money on elections and public policy.
"It also poses a situation that all elected officials face: raising questions about what
effect, if any, campaign contributions have on the actions of lawmakers."
Last week Majumder, 52, pleaded guilty to two counts of illegal campaign
contributions. He could be sentenced to six years in prison. The government
dropped 38 other counts.
Majumder admitted giving illegal contributions to Kerry and Reps. Randy "Duke"
Cunningham (R-San Diego), Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), John P. Murtha (D-Pa.)
and former Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.), totaling more than $95,000. To settle a
civil suit, Majumder has agreed to repay $3 million to the federal government.
U.S. Atty. Carol Lam, declining to be interviewed about the case or answer
questions submitted in writing, issued a one-sentence response through a
spokeswoman: "The investigation did not reveal any evidence that the elected
officials were aware of Majumder's illegal activity."
Majumder, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India, began working on the missile
program in 1989 - and established his company - with a $50,000 grant from the
federal government. Federal funding increased over time. But in 1996, the Defense
Department proposed rescinding $35 million for the project and not funding it in the
future.
Kerry joined with other senators to protest. Congress reinserted the money into the
budget, but the Navy held onto the funds.
"Mr. Secretary, I ask that you advise me immediately on the grounds on which the
Navy refuses to release these funds," Kerry wrote to then-Secretary of the Navy
John H. Dalton on Aug. 13, 1996.
"Development of this important program already has been delayed by the
unnecessary delays in funding. This not only is resulting in our air forces being
unable to benefit from the protection the AARGM has the potential to offer them,
but also soon will require the contractor to terminate its personnel associated with
this project."
In 1997, funding for the program was put on hold again. Kerry joined Sens. Edward
M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Dianne Feinstein of California in writing to
then-Undersecretary of Defense John Hamre on March 10, 1997.
"We would appreciate your informing us of the current status of the funding. If it is
being held by your office, we request that you release it to the Navy for program
execution as soon as possible."
The letter from the three Democrats seemed to work. On March 27, Hamre wrote
back to say he had released the money.
Kerry wrote other letters to Republican and Democratic senators on the
appropriations committee, asking that they include $55 million in the 1998 spending
bill for "an important military research and development program that will greatly
improve the self-protection capability of our close air support aircraft."
He wrote again in 1998, urging that senators give the program an additional $15
million.
Meehan, his campaign advisor, said Wednesday that Kerry felt that, as a
Massachusetts lawmaker, he should question why the money was being held up.
"Congress had appropriated funds, but the Pentagon was slow to release the
money. Kerry and others wrote to ask why," Meehan said, characterizing the
letters as "the battle of the legislature vs. a particular branch of the government."
John Valkus, a close friend of Majumder, said the contractor turned to making
political contributions "so he could play in the same league as the big boys:
Lockheed and Raytheon."
"It's very hard for the little guy to get noticed," Valkus said. "If he had stayed with
small components he would have been fine, but he wanted to do something big. He
knew how the weapon-system prime contractor game is played."
But Majumder told his employees, subcontractors and friends that he would pay
them back for their contributions, which is illegal. Some employees got bonuses,
court records indicate.
One employee who gave Kerry two $1,000 contributions got two envelopes in
return from Majumder - each with 10 $100 bills, the indictment said.
Judy Sherman contributed $2,000 to Kerry at Majumder's request. Her husband
was a subcontractor on the missile project.
"Part of your contract was he reimbursed you. It wasn't any money out of your
pocket," she said. "You wouldn't keep your contract if you didn't do it."
She said she remembered having to go to a Kerry fundraiser because she was a
Republican.
"My husband said, 'There's a lunch we have to go to.' I said, 'Who for?' He said
Kerry. I said, 'Kerry?' He said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Does Dr. Bob want us to?' He said,
'Yeah.' Basically that was it."
Majumder hired lobbyists in Washington, who advised him that it was smart politics
to curry favor with both Republicans and Democrats.
One of the lobbyists was James Dykstra, the former deputy assistant Defense
secretary for legislative affairs. Kerry's staff wrote to Dykstra in 1999, records
show, sending him copies of all the correspondence the senator had with the
committees that oversaw Majumder's project.
"I look forward to working with you on these and other issues of mutual interest,''
wrote Celes E. Hughes, Kerry's legislative assistant for defense and foreign policy.
The Majumder case isn't the first time that Kerry received tainted campaign
money.
In September 1996, Taiwanese American entrepreneur Johnny Chung held a
fundraiser for Kerry in Beverly Hills. He later pleaded guilty to making illegal
campaign contributions, including $8,000 raised at the Beverly Hills event.
Kerry's Senate office arranged a high-level meeting for Chung at the Securities and
Exchange Commission within a few days of the fundraiser.
The contract to Majumder's firm involved an effort to improve technology to allow
missiles to destroy ground-based radar systems even after those systems have been
switched off and are no longer emitting radiation.
Missiles now can be struck "dumb" and veer off course from their targets when
radar-equipped anti-aircraft systems are turned off.
Knowing of this shortcoming of U.S. weaponry, adversaries, including Iraq under
Saddam Hussein, use a "shoot and scoot" strategy of firing at U.S. warplanes and
then rapidly moving their missile launchers.
The U.S. has long wanted a missile that will eliminate this threat to U.S. warplanes.
By the mid-1990s, Majumder's project had gained a sympathetic hearing from two
local members of Congress, both of whom specialize in matters of defense and
military technology.
"He came up with an idea to solve a problem that the big boys [such as Lockheed
and Raytheon] couldn't," said Hunter, now chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee.
Cunningham, a decorated Navy pilot in Vietnam, said the technology is crucial to
saving the lives of pilots and ensuring the success of combat missions that include
air strikes.
The Department of Defense has continued to fund the Advanced Anti-Radiation
Guided Missile to Alliant Techsystems, the Minnesota defense firm that bought
Majumder's company after the government began its investigation into illegal
contributions. Work has continued and tests on the system are set for next year.
Getter reported from Washington and Perry from San Diego. |
